Product Description

“I don’t have two lives,” Annie Leibovitz writes in the Introduction to this collection of her work from 1990—2005. “This is one life, and the personal pictures and the assignment work are all part of it.” Portraits of well-known figures–Johnny Cash, Nicole Kidman, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Keith Richards, Michael Jordan, Joan Didion, R2-D2, Patti Smith, Nelson Mandela, Jack Nicholson, William Burroughs, George W. Bush with members of his Cabinet–appear alongside pictures of Leibovitz’s family and friends, reportage from the siege of Sarajevo in the early Nineties, and landscapes made even more indelible through Leibovitz’s discerning eye. The images form a narrative rich in contrasts and continuities: The photographer has a long relationship that ends with illness and death. She chronicles the celebrations and heartbreaks of her large and robust family. She has children of her own. All the while she is working, and the public work resonates with the themes of her life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9326 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-03
• Released on: 2006-10-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 472 pages

About the Author
Annie Leibovitz was born on October 2, 1949, in Waterbury, Connecticut. While studying painting at the San Francisco Art Institute she took night classes in photography, and in 1970 she began doing work for Rolling Stone magazine. She became Rolling Stone’s chief photographer in 1973. By the time she left the magazine, ten years later, she had shot 142 covers. She joined the staff of Vanity Fair in 1983 and in 1998 also began working for Vogue.

In addition to her magazine editorial work, Leibovitz has created influential advertising campaigns for American Express, the Gap, and the Milk Board. She has worked with many arts organizations, including American Ballet Theatre, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Mark Morris Dance Group, and with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Her books include Annie Leibovitz: Photographs, Photographs: Annie Leibovitz, 1970-1990, Olympic Portraits, Women, and Annie Leibovitz: American Music. Exhibitions of her work have appeared at museums and galleries all over the world, including the National Portrait Gallery and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C.; the International Center of Photography in New York; the Brooklyn Museum; the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam; the Centre National de la Photographie in Paris; and the National Portrait Gallery in London. Leibovitz has been designated a Living Legend by the Library of Congress and is the recipient of many other honors, including the Barnard College Medal of Distinction and the Infinity Award in Applied Photography from the International Center of Photography. She was decorated a Commandeur in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. She lives in New York with her three children, Sarah, Susan, and Samuelle.

Customer Reviews

A Photographer's Life --more than voyeurism
It's likely the first time you browse through A Photographer's Life, you will use it as a peeping tom would use a window, as a voyeur, looking in on the lives of famous people -- and perhaps that's the intention. But then, go back and gaze at the photos as art, looking for the lighting, the mood, the context. Leibovitz's photos of herself are almost too revealing, but use them as the introduction to herself as she intended. The photos she took for Rolling Stone of rock stars and politicians are as rich as the articles for which her photos were shot. Read them as you would the article itself. You will learn much.

Disappointed after all
I was very excited to win this book as a prize for a photo contest tied to the Annie Liebowitz exhibit in SF, CA. My photo was related to families. I acknowledge the other reviewers. The graphic layout of the photos reduced the value of her beautiful work. This book is important. It's production should have accorded it the same treatment. Who was in charge of its publication? Was Annie consulted? I can't imagine it. Actually it would make me feel better to think that she wasn't included in the approval cycle; how could you do this to yourself?

Annie Leibovitz photography
A beautiful and touching collection of her life and friends in her own words------photography. I have her first book and this one is just as great. A beautiful, interesting coffee table book. Every time you look through it you see it again differently.